Epilogue
by pyrat-xo
Summary: It was all one mary-sue could do to survive in this world. She was strong, yes, but no match for ShinRa's elite.


Epilogue

It was all one mary-sue could do to stay alive in this world. She was strong, yes, but no match for ShinRa's elite.

Annalinalou, last of the Ancients, ducked into a dark alley in the ruins of Midgar's Sector 7 slums. She wore skin-tight leather pants, a fingerless glove (closely resembling Rude's) obscuring the cross-shaped scar on the back of her hand. Brushing a strand of pitch black hair out of her sparkling emraldine eyes, Annalinalou leaned delicately against the wall of the dark alley. There was a small intake of breath as the Turks sprinted by.

She sighed longingly as Reno's face came into view, and then realized he was looking directly at her. His gun was drawn, and the barrel was trained on her face. He seemed to be talking to himself, but at a closer inspection, was actually speaking into a transmitter attached to his collar, "Rude, I found it. Bring your Destruct materia. It's the AVALANCHE chick Wallace sez he doesn't know..."

He was watching the girl warily, thinking to slow it down a bit by shooting it in the face. Repeatedly. He'd taken the safety off his gun years ago. When you needed to shoot someone, and fast, there really wasn't much time to flick it off off. The sue readied herself to bolt as the Turk cocked back the hammer. She never had a chance. Reno pulled the trigger, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Annalinalou turned around and caught the bullet milliseconds before it would connect with the back of her skull. "Target confirmed." Reno barely had enough time to finish before a delicate hand had him around the throat. Rude's voice crackled into his earpiece, "Reno? Reno!" before she removed it and crushed it into a fine, dusty mess. Using her telekinetic powers, Annalinalou's voice boomed into Reno's head. I have your life in my hands!

He rolled his eyes. How could anyone so seemingly cool say something so corny? She noticed this, and her face flushed. He wasn't too worried. Rude would be here soon, and he had probably already contacted Tseng. Damnit. Working for AVALANCHE sucked like nothing else. This girl said she'd helped save the world, was Sephiroth's long-lost illegitimate half-sister. Was super-powerful... Third time this week one of these fanatics had popped up, and since the Turks had been re-hired... as Turks, well.. they weren't being paid enough for this.

"How the hell did you get cornered like this?"

Gunshot.

Gunshot.

Four more times, and Annalinalou was writhing on the floor, purple-green blood spewing from various wounds. Bullets-holes that were quickly knitting themselves... Reno massaged his neck and casually pulled out his EMR, applied it to the sue and let the electricity flow.

She twitched even harder, and Reno turned up the power until Annalinalou started to smoke. He was vaguely aware of Tseng reloading his gun and speaking, but was only half-listening. "Right. You handle this one, Elena and Rude're taking on three--"

"Since when?"

"Two minutes ago. These things move fast, I'll be back in a while."

And he was gone.

It wasn't every day the Turks were dispatched to handle an onslaught of sues, but they did it better than any branch of AVALANCHE could. It was just especially hectic today. Midsummer seemed to be the breeding-season for these things. Probably had something to do with how their hair looked in the sun, according to some of the more recent reports from Nibelheim. They'd have a couple more specimens to ship in after today.

Valentine had taken command of the Turks, since AVALANCHE deemed them too important to fire. He could handle these things, if the photos of old-man ShinRa hadn't been lying. Rufus had had the same problem, though never to this extent. It was worse after Strife and his group saved the world. Storms on the rebuilt ShinRa Tower and Nibelheim had become more frequent; the result was often blood, lipstick and perfume, sometimes whips and chains, scattered in front of the building.

Most times, either Reno or Tseng would end up in the infirmary, occasionally Rude and almost never Elena. Valentine would often join them with a broken rib or two. Sometimes he'd need a replacement claw, the original one having been torn off and sold over the internet or something else equally unpleasant.

Thinking about stuff made Reno depressed. Things were so much better-- better for him and the other Turks-- back when ShinRa had the world wrapped around its little finger. So. Time to think about something else.

_How long does it take this thing to die?_

As if on cue, Annalinalou's mouth gaped and 'Taps' began to play. How appropriate.

Reno's watch, his backup transmitter, buzzed.

"Yo."

"We're finished. Report back to HQ, Rude's got a broken arm-- and ah, two unconscious targets. When you get back, let the science department know. We'll be needing some sedatives... and a big crate."

"Gotcha."

"Over and out."


End file.
